guys, I can't even believe we talk about this stuff. tennis is so much more complicated and sophisticated. I respect marathon players but please... what are we talking about here? Can Nole and Nadal be great marathon players? lol

I haven't played tennis in my life, have played some squash and I do feel some cramp in my arm after about 10 mins. Given how hard these guys were hitting ball well after 5 sets, I cannot begin to imagine how fit they are and how demanding the contest was on their stamina and endurance.

I would much rather run a marathon, even if took me over 4 hours, than to play tennis for 6 hours because of the amount of energy you'd have to put into practically every shot from the baseline.

I said this to my brother when we were watching the AO final, I think we were watching not only a contest between the top 2 in Tennis, but we were watching a contest in my opinion between to two most athletic and fit men on earth.

Cross country skiing is harder than tennis, and yes marathons are harder than tennis. The ball was not in play for the whole length of the match, not like marathon runners can have breaks, taking a minute in between points, sit down for 90 sec and run again.

“ On Nadal bumping him on the changeover, Rosol said: "It's ok, he wanted to take my concentration; I knew he would try something".

Wilander on Dimitrov - "He has mind set on imitating Federer and yes it looks good. But he has no idea what to do on the court".

I haven't played tennis in my life, have played some squash and I do feel some cramp in my arm after about 10 mins. Given how hard these guys were hitting ball well after 5 sets, I cannot begin to imagine how fit they are and how demanding the contest was on their stamina and endurance.

I would much rather run a marathon, even if took me over 4 hours, than to play tennis for 6 hours because of the amount of energy you'd have to put into practically every shot from the baseline.

I said this to my brother when we were watching the AO final, I think we were watching not only a contest between the top 2 in Tennis, but we were watching a contest in my opinion between to two most athletic and fit men on earth.

Hahaha.
Just;

Hahahaha.

"I did not play my best tennis, no? And..that is what enable him to win..to win this match no? "

Cross country skiing, biathlon, skiing, and yes marathon are way more difficult for the body and waterpolo, too. But ok, skiing and waterpolo are time limited. Bloody socks? Marathon runners have them too, and caluses, and urine and feces in their pants sometimes, sometimes they also vomit... And it is funny how we all drool over the 6h play in AO, how about Isner Mahut on the 2nd day of their match at Wimby?? oh wait, they served better so they didn't run that much. ok.. the amount of time on court is still there.

Just imagine Djokovic and Nadal running a marathon. Would they finish it? Sure. After a few days. Why? Because of toweling off after every few meters, taking injury time-outs and resting every now and again.

+1 This.

"In my opinion he's the best player ever. When you play tennis, playing Federer is kind of a dream because you can see he does everything you would love to do on the court" - Fabrice Santoro

Im aware of the fact marathoners taper off about a week before their big race, but generally they train all year round. Note, theyre still running every day, just not as hard.

Yet the funny thing is, the ones who have a marathon at the end of the year dont get tired toward that part of the year like some tennis players strangely go missing for the last 3 months of the year at WTF time. That also proves they're fitter.

But in terms of their long run, most of the serious ones do a long run longer than the actual marathon every weekend.

And when I say long run, its not an easy long run, its a steady pace, somewhere about 10% below race speed.

Guess what, they probably did a 16 mile run the day before. They didnt get 2 days to rest and prepare for it.

This is part of the reason I created the thread I did about how can players be stiff and tired after 2 days rest, and people laughed at me.

Yet the same people are trying to tell me that tennis players are fitter than or as fit as runners, yet runners can be fresh the next day after 26 mile long runs. Let alone 2 days.

"I did not play my best tennis, no? And..that is what enable him to win..to win this match no? "

Cross country skiing is harder than tennis, and yes marathons are harder than tennis. The ball was not in play for the whole length of the match, not like marathon runners can have breaks, taking a minute in between points, sit down for 90 sec and run again.

I reckon. This is what people dont understand.

I remember when I started running, over eager as I might have been, I didnt ease my way into it, I insisted on doing 10 mile runs at steady speed.

Of coruse, gallant as I was, I couldnt do it without resting.

Taking 5-6 90 second sit down rests, and the odd walk break, say 8 of those, makes it infinately easier.

People here also dont understand the hitting the wall that happens somewhere in the second half of the marathon. In terms of the mental strenth needed to "race" those things let alone complete them.

I have seen people in tears, ive seen people throwing up, ive seen people doing the strangest limping I have ever seen after those events.

Havent seen that too much on a tennis court. Well not crying for that reason.

"I did not play my best tennis, no? And..that is what enable him to win..to win this match no? "

Nole would have a difficult time performing well at a marathon. How would he translate his skills (faking, cheating, bouncing) to the event. Plus, his secret weapon (injury time-out) would be a disadvantage. Wasting time would not help him win.

As far as Nadal is concerned, he would have to have his underwear surgically removed from his crack afterwards. Plus the bottle ritual would be difficult to manage.